The Life of the young Potter
by Lila5535
Summary: Albus Potter had always looked forward to school at Hogwarts. And now that he is there, he learns and experiences more then he could ever imagine. With his new friend Indigo, he is constantly kept on his toes. Continuing on straight after the end of the last Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

After Albus Potter had waved goodbye to his family and seen them disappear when the train hurtled round the corner, he turned to look at Rose Weasley, who smiled back at him. And together they went to look for a free compartment.

After a long search they settled themselves into an empty compartment near the back of the train. Rose and Albus started to talk freely to each other,

"Hey Rose, which house do you want to be in?" Albus asked eagerly. "I think you'll be in Ravenclaw, you've got the brains for it."

"Thanks Al" She said, blushing slightly. "To be honest, I don't really mind. But if I had to choose, I'd probably pick Gryffindor, or yeah, Ranvenclaw." She replied honestly.

"I want to be in Gryffindor..."

They talked for a while, sharing their fantasies with each other about what they think Hogwarts will be like when they arrive. But they were soon interrupted by a knock on the glass door of their compartment. Rose stood up and opened the door for a small boy with light brown hair and the odd freckle on his small face, to enter. It was Nathan Longbottom.

"Oh, hello, Nathan." Rose said.

"Hello..." Nathan said shyly.

"I haven't seen you since you came over just after Christmas." Albus said.

"Uh, yeah." He replied.

"So Nathan, do you want to be in Gryffindor too?" Rose asked.

"I hope so, but I don't think I have what it takes. Aren't you supposed to be bold and daring?" Nathan asked quietly.

"Well, kinda, but my dad said that the hat takes your thoughts into account as well." Albus said proudly.

"I hope so..." Nathan said worriedly.

"Don't worry Nath, i'm sure you'll be fine. Why don't you guys get changed, i'll wait for you here. I'm already in my Hogwarts clothes." She said.

As the boys left with their Hogwarts uniforms, Rose stared out the window into the clear sky, thinking how thankful she was that she already had two friends. She had worried all throughout the holidays, dreading the thought of being completely alone.

_I should have known i'd have Albus with me, we've been friends since we were born, but somehow, I could just see him with a group of other boys without me._ She thought.

* * *

After lollies had been eaten, questions had been asked and games had been played, the Hogwarts Express slowed to a stop. As soon as they took their first step off the train they found that the noise was deafening! They heard squeals of excitement, heaps of loud voices and a booming, deep shout which made all the other sounds seem quiet.

"Firs' years this way!" Shouted Hagrid.

As the three of them pushed their way to the front of the crowd, where Hagrid was standing, Albus shouted at the top of his voice, to be heard,

"Hello Hagrid!"

"Albus! Great to see ya." Hagrid replied happily. " Oh, and hello Rose! Good to see you as well Nathan!"

After Hagrid was sure all the first years had gotten off the train, he turned and stalked off in the direction of the lake, expecting the young students to follow.

* * *

It had been a peaceful journey to the other side of the lake. The water had been calm and everybody had enjoyed a relaxing boat trip to the other side, no matter how squashed they were in the small boats.

Albus was now standing next to his two friends, Rose and Nathan, looking up at the huge towering building known to be Hogwarts.

_Wow. It's beautiful. He thought. I know mum said it was big, but really? I'm never going to survive my first year at Hogwarts without getting lost._

"It's beautiful." Rose commented, sharing his thoughts.

They stood there looking up at the lit tower until they got pushed mercilessly by the huge crowd of students.

* * *

"Weasley, Rose." Came the voice of Professor Frost.

Rose pushed her way to the front of the line and picked up the Sorting Hat from the stool and placed it over her head as she sat down.

"Gryffindor!" The hat shouted after a few short moments.

The table full of Gryffindors erupted with loud claps. Rose took a seat at the top of the table and smiled with relief.

"Melody, Indigo."

"Gryffindor!"

"Malfoy, Scorpius."

Albus stiffened, he had heard what his Uncle Ron had said about the Malfoy's. Within seconds of the Hat touching the blond haired boy's head, it screamed "Slytherin!" The boy seemed pleased and took haste to sit down at the Slytherin table.

"Harley, Emily."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Filius, Jack."

Hufflepuff!"

"Longbottom, Nathan."

Albus turned to Nathan, who had gone completely pale, and said "Good luck."

Nathan smiled weakly, and slowly walked up to the stool bearing the hat. After a few intense and silent moments, Albus heard the Hat shout,

"Gryffindor!"

Albus looked up at the staff table, and saw Professor Longbottom smile proudly as his son took a seat at the Gryffindor table next to Rose.

"Finnigan, Grace."

"Ravenclaw!"

"Potter, Albus."

It's now or never. Albus thought as he moved toward the Sorting Hat. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw his brother, James, smirk to his friends. After placing the Hat over his head he thought determinedly,

_Gryffindor. Please be Gryffindor._

_Ah, Gryffindor, just like your father._ He heard the hats voice say in his head.

_Please!_

_Oh, alright, if that's what you really want._

_Yes._

"Gryffindor!" He heard the Sorting Hat announce.

"Thank you." He whispered to it as he placed it back down on the stool and went to sit at the cheering Griffindor table with Rose and Nathan.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, sorry it's quite a long chapter, but I couldn't help myself. I hope you enjoy. :D Please review and like if you did!**

**-Lila**

**Chapter 2**

As Albus reflected on his day, he remembered how happy he had been that night at dinner, talking with his fellow Gryffindors. He, Nathan and Rose had loved their filling dinner and the chocolate pudding they had somehow managed to fit in after. Albus had even managed to get to know some of his other first-year Gryffindors and he and a loud girl named Indigo seemed to get along quite well.

As Albus smiled to himself happily, he gave himself a mental reminder to write a letter tomorrow morning to his parents, about how successful his first day had been. Albus even found himself excited for tomorrow, where his first day of lessons would begin.

And that was all he could remember before he drifted peacefully to sleep.

* * *

He woke up early the next morning to, as he said he would last night, write a letter to his parents. He pulled some parchment towards him, and his quill and ink, and began to write.

Dear mum and Dad (and Lily).

I'm having a great time here at Hogwarts. I've already made heaps of friends! I can't wait to introduce you to them!

And guess what? I made it into Gryffindor! Rose and Nathan made it too and we had a great night together at dinner!

Talk later,

Albus.

After Albus had made his way to where his owl, Henry, was being kept and delivered the message to his parents, he walked quickly back to the Gryffindor dorms to see if it was a good time to wake up Nathan. And it was. It was now 7:00am, and they had agreed, last night, to meet Rose in their common room at 7:30am.

"Nathan, wake up." He said, nudging his shoulder forcefully.

"What?" Nathan replied sleepily.

"Come on, we have to meet Rose soon, and I need to eat. I'm hungry." Albus said, as his stomach gave a rumble of agreement.

He went down to the common room alone to give Nathan time to get changed. As he suspected, he found Rose and Indigo, the girl he had met last night, already there waiting for him.

"Hello Al." Rose said.

"Hey Rose, hey Indigo." Albus said.

"Hey. Are you as excited as I am? Indigo asked. "I didn't get much sleep last night, I was just too excited for today!"

"I'm excited too." Albus said. "Wanna go get breakfast when Nathan get's down? He's just getting ready."

"Sure. Can Indigo join us too?" Rose asked.

"Course"

"Thanks Albus." Indigo said thankfully, she didn't want to go alone.

As soon as Nathan arrived, the four of them left for breakfast.

When they arrived at the magical Great Hall, they found it half empty, much less crowded than last night. They sat where they had eaten dinner last night, at the end of the table, the side which was closest to the teachers table.

* * *

Albus, Rose, Nathan and Indigo enjoyed a warm breakfast consisting of sausages, bacon, eggs, juice, and waffles afterwards. They were in the middle of a conversation when the sound of screeching and flapping of wings made them all stop and turn around. A bunch of owls were flying in through the windows and doors and circled each other on the ceiling. Soon, the owls came down to deliver packages and messages to their owners. The four of them looked around for their family owls, wondering if their family had wrote. Albus saw his family owl, Hedwig II (Harry had chosen the name) and watched as he flew towards him, bearing a letter tied to his left leg. Once he landed, he stuck his foot out which held the letter. Albus untied the string and opened the letter.

Dear Albus,

We are glad to hear that you are having such a good time at Hogwarts and that you have already made friends.

Please listen in class and take your time with your homework. But most of all, don't forget to have fun!

-Love from Mum, Dad and Lily.

Albus smiled and placed the letter on the table, looking up to find a timetable. He looked to his friends to see that they were already examining theirs.

Albus had Herbology first and then Charms and afterwards he had double History of Magic. Then double Potions in the afternoon.

Once they had all finished breakfast, the four of them made their way down to the greenhouses for Herbology.

* * *

"My favourite spell today was Wingardium Leviosa, I loved making things fly!" Albus said to the others as they exited their charms classroom.

"Yeah, I guess it wasn't too bad." Indigo said.

"I couldn't get my feather to fly!" Nathan exclaimed.

"That's only cause you were saying it wrong." Rose said.

"Whatever." Nathan said.

* * *

The group split up into twos. Nathan and Rose left one way for double Potions, while Indigo and Albus left the other way for double History of Magic.

After a lot of walking, and lot's of asking for directions, the two of them stopped at the door of Professor Binns classroom. Nobody else was there waiting, and looking in through the glass panel on the door, nobody was seated in the classroom either. Not even their Professor was there. They figured they must be early, which they thought was weird, considering how long it took them to find the classroom.

"So, err, what are your parents like?" Albus asked.

"My mum's a witch and my dad's a wizard, if that's what your asking." She chuckled.

He laughed. "Same."

"Where are you from?" Indigo asked Albus.

"Around here." He replied. "You?"

"I'm from Scotland."

"Cool! I've always wanted to go there." He answered.

She laughed. "It's not as great as it seems, you know."

"Why not?"

"Wait." She said.

"What?"

"It's half an hour past the start of the lesson." She said as she consulted her watch.

"Where is everybody?" He asked, starting to worry.

"I don't know. Maybe we should go inside."

Slowly, they opened the door, it was deserted, as expected.

"Where else would they be?" Indigo asked.

"Maybe the class was relocated somewhere else?" He suggested.

"We would have been told."

"Indigo..."

"Yeah?"

"What's that?" Albus asked quietly, pointing to the chalk on the blackboard, which had started to write a message on it's own accord.

"Ind, meet me in the Forbidden Forest at midnight. You know where to go. Bring your friend if you must.

-J" Indigo read aloud.

"Who's Ind and J?" Albus asked to no one in particular.

"I'm Ind. J stands for Juno." Indigo replied.

"You? What's going on?" He asked, starting to get scared.

"Juno's my cousin. He died here at Hogwarts in his second year. We were pretty close beforehand. He chose to stay as a ghost here, he never told me why, he just said he still had some important business to deal with." She explained.

"And where's this place he's referring to?" He asked.

"In his first year his used to write to me a lot. He mentioned a placed he always went to when he had stuff on his mind. He said it was in the middle of the forest and it was hidden unless you knew some sort of password." She answered.

"And do you?" Albus asked curiously.

"What?"

"Do you know it? The password?"

"Oh, no. But I can guess."

"Well then. Meet outside the common room at 11:30pm and we'll go."

"What? You're not seriously thinking of going are you!?"

"Of course I am! This sounds important."

"You heard what Professor McGonagall said at the feast last night, the Forbidden Forest is out of bounds, and we're not even allowed out of bed after curfew." She said matter-of-factly.

"So?"

"So, we'll get a detention, or possibly worse!"

"Jeez, you sound like my Aunt Hermione. And besides, my dad gave me his invisibility cloak, he said I might need it. We can't get caught if we're invisible..." He said.

"Fine. But if we get caught, I'm blaming you." She said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, thanks for reading this far into my first book! I would really appreciate it if you review and like!**

**Thx 3**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Beep Beep...

Albus Potter woke with a start and turned off his alarm, before anybody else woke up from the noise.

He tore out of his bed and summoned his dad's invisibility cloak out of his trunk. He tucked it into his pocket and then tucked his wand into his other pocket. After doing so, he quietly exited his dorm into the common room and crawled out of the portrait hole, where he said he would wait for Indigo. When she came out, he noticed that she was completely pale and was twiddling her hair.

"You look nervous." He whispered.

"And you aren't?" She whispered back.

"Yeah, okay, I am."

"Did you bring the cloak?"

"Course." He confirmed.

He pulled the invisibility cloak out of his right pocket and chucked it over their heads, before checking it covered their feet as well, like his dad had told him to.

Together, they walked silently out of the Hogwarts gates, and then Albus followed Indigo, hoping she knew where to go.

Once they reached the edge of the forest, they stopped.

"Are you sure you still want to do this?" Indigo whispered nervously.

"Yeah?" He said uncertainly.

They took off the cloak and Albus stuffed it back into his pocket. While walking quickly through the forest, they dodged leaves and branches that poked out at them and continuously checked around them, with their lit wands, to check out strange noises and to make sure that they weren't being followed.

* * *

Minutes had passed, and Albus and Indigo had tripped on tree roots and twigs many times and now bore scratches on their arms and legs, from where branches had poked them when they passed.

From nearby, the sound of leaves rustling and whispering could be heard.

"Al, did you hear that?" Indigo whispered.

"Who's t-t-there?"Albus asked loudly, trying to sound confident.

And then, out of the bushes, charged a pack of centaurs with raised bows. They made a circle around Indigo and Albus, and slowly began closing in.

"Who are you?" Roared the biggest centaur. He had huge muscles on his human arms, and a beard that looked somewhat like Hagrid's. He was the tallest of them all, and Albus assumed that he was the leader of the pack.

"I'm A-A-Albus and t-this is I-Indigo." Albus said hoarsely, while gesturing to Indigo.

"And what would you be doing, running around in our territory?" A random centaur from the crowd shouted out.

Indigo took handle of the situation confidently, she had been around a pack of centaurs before. She shuddered at the memory.

"We're terribly sorry to disturb you, but we came here looking for someone." She said.

"There is no wizard lost in here that we don't know about, if that's what your saying." The leader roared.

"Oh, err, we know, but it's rather a certain ghost that we're looking for."

"Ghost? This isn't a place for ghosts! Why on earth would they come here?" The centaurs howled with laughter.

"He, err, told us to meet him here. In the middle of the forest." She said.

"If you could just help us get there, then we'll be on our way." Albus chimed in.

Indigo stamped on his foot. "Ow!" He yelled.

"Why would we help you?" The centaurs asked.

"Because..." Indigo said, trying to think of something.

"Because how do you know that we're not gonna do anything to your territory?" Albus said, holding his foot.

"Albus!" Indigo whispered to him.

But the centaurs had started whispering to each other, discussing something. And after a few intense minutes, they agreed to help.A young centaur named Dimitri was assigned to help them, however much he complained. So, Indigo and Albus climbed onto his back, and held on tight, ready for the journey ahead.

* * *

Dimitri was a fast galloper, and a good hunter, but his dad, Shodan, was always really tough on him. Dimitri always thought this was because he was the pack leader, and he had to be mean, but now, he wasn't so sure.

Dimitri took Indigo and Albus further into the forest. Crushing leaves and jumping over fallen trees on the way. He could feel the two humans clinging on for dear life.

They rode deeper, deeper, deeper into the Forbidden Forest. Dimitri knew where to go, he'd been on hunts this far into the forest plenty of times. And he knew what to look for.

After minutes of searching, he found it. There, on the ground, was the green patch of luscious grass that he was looking for. It was the only green grass you could ever find in the whole Forbidden Forest. The centaurs had spent centuries protecting it and trying to make it expand, but it never moved, well, at least, that's what they thought.

"You get off here." Dimitri said.

Indigo and Albus did what he said and dismounted.

"Thank you." Albus said.

"How can we––"Indigo started to say, but the centaur had already taken off.

"So, what now?" Albus asked. "Where to next?"

"It's here, but I just need to figure out what the password is and where to say it..." Indigo replied, looking around.

"Maybe you're supposed to say it to that patch of grass?" Albus asked.

"Um, ok."

Indigo walked up to the patch of grass. "Uh, Hello grass." She said. "Ah!" She squealed, jumping back in surprise.

"What?" Albus asked.

"Look!" She pointed at the patch of grass as Albus came closer. What he saw blew him away.

The grass was growing a face.

"What the––"

"Hello my name is Durva. And where I come from, it means Sacred Grass."

Albus and Indigo looked at each other, unsure of what to do.

"I believe you've got something for me?" Durva asked.

Albus looked at Indigo, who seemed frozen, and nudged her in the back to make her speak.

"Oh, err." She said, looking at Albus for help.

"Go on." Albus said encouragingly.

After a few moments of thinking, Indigo said,

"Is the password June?"

"Correct."

And before they knew what was happening, Durva's face shrunk back into the grass, and a bubble started to emerge as it left. Once it had reached the surface of the grass entirely, it started to expand. It grew bigger, bigger and bigger, until the side of the bubble that was closest to them was just inches from their faces. Then, they noticed that there was a door shape carved out on the bubble face. And letters started appearing on the door. They had a similar style to how the message on the blackboard was written. When the letters were distinguishable, Albus read aloud the word,

"Enter."


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Indigo grabbed the wooden door knob, that had just appeared, and turned it. It swung open easily.

"Wow." She said as she stepped inside.

"Wow." Albus agreed.

The room that was before them was huge, it had a glass dome roof, which lit the whole room magnificently, however, torches had still been lit and placed randomly on the red walls. The floor was golden and sparkled magically, it was a true Gryffindor's room. There was a brown, circle table in the middle of the room, which was surrounded by padded chairs. Other than that, the room was bare, unless you counted the five doors at the end of the room...

"Let's go through number three." Indigo said.

But after seeing Albus' questioning face, she shrugged and said,

"Three was his favourite number."

As they entered the door that was labeled 3, they saw a huge maze that went for as far out and as far up as they could see. The maze was made of what looked like metal, that was painted red. As they walked up to the start of the maze, words appeared on the wall of it.

"Meet me in the middle." Indigo read out.

"You've got to be joking!" Albus exclaimed. "Why couldn't he just meet us at Hogwarts?"

Indigo just shrugged, she was just as clueless as he was.

But before they could or say anything else, more words appeared underneath the last ones.

"There's no turning back now." Albus read out in a high voice.

Just as they turned to try to leave, they heard the distinct bang of the door slamming closed. Indigo ran to it.

"It's locked!" She shrieked.

"Try that new spell we learnt today! What was it called? Elo... Eloho..?" Albus tried.

"Alohomora!" Indigo said clearly, while pointing her wand at the door knob. But the sound of clicking, the sound they had both been praying for, did not come. They were locked in.

"We're just gonna have to go through the maze." She said, while shaking her head.

* * *

It's another dead end up there." Albus informed Indigo, jogging back to where she was.

They had been taking it in turns to run up a line of the maze to see where it would lead, to save time.

"It's 1:15am." She said, heading back the other way. "We'd better get back soon, before they notice we're gone."

They had already spent a quarter of an hour on the fruitless search for the centre of the maze. They had found countless dead ends and were quickly becoming annoyed with Juno at how hard he had made it to reach him.

Soon, they reached a fork.

"Which way?" Albus asked.

"Hmmm... Left." Indigo guessed.

It was Indigo's turn. She jogged up the left lane, but soon found a dead end, which cut her off. So instead, she retraced her steps and this time Albus took the middle path.

After he had informed her that, from what he could see, it was all clear, they walked a long way through the maze without any change in direction, no decisions to make, and no dead ends.

"Look!" Indigo cried out.

"The middle!" Albus cried too.

They ran straight to the middle, to find a bench lying there facing them. It was not empty.

"Welcome." Juno said.

"Juno! I haven't seen you in ages!" Indigo said to the ghost.

"It's been too long, indeed." He replied.

"This is Albus." She said, pointing to him.

"Hey." Albus said.

"So, you're the boy that i've seen hanging around my favourite cousin." Juno said.

"What did you want us for, J?" Indigo asked, blushing slightly.

"My dear Ind, there's something I need you to do."

"Anything." She said.

Albus snapped his head to her direction, thinking other ideas.

"I promised my Father I'd do something for him. But I can't now that I'm dead. I can't die properly until I have done as I promised."

"So that's why you stayed..." She said.

He nodded in return. "I had no choice but to. I have waited for you to come to Hogwarts, so that I could pass on my quest."

"Quest?"

"Yes. I lured you into this room to see if you had what it takes. And here you are." His eyes shone happily.

"What do I have to do?" She asked.

"Take this." He clicked his fingers to summon a piece of parchment, which he sent flying towards Indigo. " Read it carefully, and follow what it says. Good luck."

"Can't you help us?" She asked.

"I have not a clue what it means. I am sorry."

"Well, if you don't know, what makes you think we'll know?"

"I have complete faith in you."

"At least help us get back." She pleaded.

"Ok then, follow me." He said.

* * *

It took almost another hour to get back to the safety of Hogwarts. And when they did, both Albus and Indigo were exhausted. Albus wet straight back to bed when he got back, even though there was little over three hours until he would have to wake up again. As soon as his head touched his pillow, he was asleep.

* * *

That day passed extremely slowly. Albus could barely keep himself awake, and in History of Magic, he was almost certain that he had actually fallen asleep. However, no one had seemed to notice, everybody else was also trying to keep themselves awake, everybody seemed have the same effect to Professor Binns droning voice.

Albus and Indigo had had a short dinner before they had rushed off to bed for a long sleep. They had told anybody who asked them where they were going, that they had heaps of homework to do in the Gryffindor common room.

"Night Indigo." Albus said slowly, as he turned left towards his spiral staircase, which led to the boy's dorms.

"See ya, Albus." She said over her shoulder, as she walked the other way.


	5. Chapter 5

Hey guys. Sorry it took so long, I hope you enjoy it! Thanks for reading my story this far, please review! Thx, enjoy. See you next time.

* * *

Chapter 5

Albus Potter slept in late that next morning, glad that it was Saturday. Nobody else remained in his dorm, so he went into the common room. To his relief, she was there, reading a piece of parchment held out in front of her. Just the girl he wanted to see.

"Hey, we need to talk." He whispered to her.

Indigo followed Albus to his room, and closed the door behind her as she entered.

"Yeah?" She asked him.

"What does it say?" He asked.

"What?"

"The thing that Juno gave you!" He said impatiently.

"Oh." She replied. "That. Look, Albus, you don't have to do this anymore."

"But I want to help."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive." He answered determinedly.

"Well then, read for yourself." She said hopelessly, as she handed him the parchment he had found her reading earlier.

Albus read:

To you my fellow male Gryffindor,

I leave with you a room to explore.

So just find meaning in the words I say,

And follow your one line after counting your way.

"What's that's supposed to mean?" He asked.

"That's I've been trying to tell you Al! I have no idea." She said sadly. "I think that he's saying there's a hidden room somewhere."

"Where?"

"That's what I want to know, Al. I think it says in this poem somewhere, if we could just find it." She answered tiredly.

"Why would Juno expect us to kn––" He broke off.

Just then the door opened, and in came Nathan and Rose. Indigo quickly hid the poem behind her back, in an attempt to hide it.

"There you are Indigo, we've been looking for you everywhere!" Rose exclaimed.

"Good to see your finally up now Albus." Nathan said.

"Oh, err, yeah." He replied awkwardly.

"What's that behind your back Indigo?" Rose asked curiously.

"Oh, umm, nothing." She said as she pulled an empty hand from behind her back.

But Rose had noticed that her other hand had flown to her back just as Indigo had pulled the other one out.

"I saw you switch hands." She said. "I'm not dumb."

Indigo threw Albus a look to say, it was worth a try.

"What's going on you guys?" Nathan asked, but when neither answered, he added, "It can't be that bad."

Albus gave in. "We're trying to––" He started, but was soon cut off by Indigo.

"We can't tell them!" She exclaimed.

"Juno never said we couldn't."

"Who's Juno?" Rose and Nathan asked simultaneously.

Indigo sighed, this was why she hated her family history, there was so many secrets. "It's my cousin."

"And?" Rose asked. "You still haven't answered my question. What's behind your back?"

Reluctantly, Indigo handed Rose the parchment and watched Rose's and Nathan's eyes as they read it together.

"What is this?" Nathan asked curiously.

Indigo and Albus looked at each other. And with the approving looks they received from each other, they began to explain.

* * *

"You went into the Forbidden Forest? After curfew?" Rose exclaimed, after she had heard Indigo's and Albus' explanations.

"We had to." Indigo said simply.

"So, you found a mysterious message, that could have been written by anybody, you did exactly what it said, and went into the Forest?" She shrieked.

"I know when my cousin has written a message to me, and when it's a fake." Indigo replied calmly back.

"That J could have stood for anything. Julian, Jack, Julia, they all start with J!" Rose protested

"I guess I wasn't completely sure that it was him, but I had to check." She said simply.

"That could have been a trap!"

"Girls! Stop! It doesn't matter anymore, it's done." Albus said firmly, breaking up the argument.

"Rose, we need your help, please." Indigo pleaded.

"With what? Decoding that poem?" Rose asked.

"Yes. I admit, I'm smart, but I'm not that smart." She said.

"Fine." She said as she looked over the message again. "Obviously there is a secret room somewhere in the Gryffindor boys dorms. Which room it is in, I don't know."

"I knew it!" Indigo said.

"Maybe room 1?" Nathan chipped in. "It says to follow your one line. Maybe it means follow room 1?"

"Maybe. But I think there's more to it." Rose said.

"It's the only lead we've got right now, so I say we give it a try." Albus commented.

"We should go now, then, while everybody's out." Indigo said, heading towards the door.

"We can't just waltz into a random room without a plan." Rose said. "We'll get caught!"

* * *

They spent just over half an hour in Nathan's and Albus' room, discussing strategies on how to get into room 1 and finding the secret room without being spotted, or leaving evidence. Once they had sorted out the plan, they headed downstairs.

Albus, Indigo and Rose waited in the common room, while Nathan went to check if the room was clear.

The three of them sat in the corner of the room, huddled in a circle. A coin was placed in the middle, they were all staring intently at it.

"Do you think he's okay?" Rose asked nervously.

But before Albus could answer, the coin shined brightly, and the numbers 5000 appeared on the hot coin.

"It's clear." Indigo declared, as Rose pocketed her mother's coin.

As they entered room 1, of the boys dorms, they found Nathan in there waiting for them.

"Good, you got the message, I was starting to doubt that you saw it." Nathan said, as he handed Albus his father's coin back.

They all started searching for a secret hole. They looked under beds for hatches, scanned the walls and pressed their ears against them to see if they could hear anything peculiar. A half hour passed before the four of them declared it empty.

"That was pointless, all that, for nothing." Indigo sighed heavily.

"We must have missed something in the poem." Rose said.

* * *

The rest of the weekend whizzed by. They spent most of it trying to figure out what the poem fully meant.

"So, back to class hey?" Indigo said tiredly.

"Yep." Albus said.

The first lesson that they had was Transfiguration. It was half way through the lesson when it came to Rose.

"I got it!" She exclaimed excitedly.

"What have you got Ms Weasley?" Professor Frost asked.

"Oh, err, I get why it's called transfiguration, because you're transferring a figure into something else..." She made up.

"Congratulations." He said sarcastically.

* * *

At the end of class, Nathan, Albus and Indigo came up to her and asked her what she had really meant.

"Guys, I get what the poem is saying!" She said happily.

"What?" They asked together.

"I'll tell you at the end of the day, when nobody is around, now is not a good time."

"Please tell us!" They cried.

"Later!" She replied hastily. She didn't want anybody to get suspicious and question what they were doing. Her mistake in class was bad enough, she saw many of her classmates looking at her with raised eyebrows.

* * *

Once the day had finally came to an end, Indigo, Albus and Nathan practically ran at Rose when she had exited their Charms classroom.

"Hey!" She said.

"Tell us!"

"Let's get to a less crowded place." She said, looking around at the crowded hallway.

They ended up retiring in Albus' and Nathan's dorm. Once they had all gotten comfortable on their beds, they looked expectantly at Rose, waiting for answers.

"Well?" Albus said once they didn't come.

"Okay." She said nervously. "So, you know in the last line of the poem, where it says 'and follow your one line after counting your way?' Well, I think that means you have to count how many lines there are in the poem, which is four-"

"So, you mean the room number we need to go to is four?"

"Let me finish." She said impatiently. "It says one line, so one four."

"Fourteen!" Nathan said loudly.

"Shhh!" she said. "But yes, that's what I think."

"So let's go!" Albus said.

"Plan?" Indigo asked.

"Same as before. Nathan, take my dad's coin and check to see if the room's clear. If it is, send the number 5008 on the enchanted coins. Once we see the number appear on this one, we'll join you in room 14." She explained.

"Won't it look suspicious if I go again?" Nathan asked.

"He's right. I'll go this time." Albus said.

"Okay then, good luck. And remember, if anybody asks, you're lost."

"Got it."

"See ya soon." Indigo said.

They left Albus in their room, and went to wait for the message in the common room. Meanwhile, he was to go check if the room was clear.

Albus quietly left his room and slowly ascended the staircase. His room number was 05, there are about ten rooms on each level, so he would only need to go up another floor. He climbed a total of twenty steps until he reached the next landing. As he walked down the corridor, he watched the door numbers, until he reached number 14.

Nervously, he pressed his ear against the sealed door, no sound, but just to make sure, he knocked on the door twice. There was no answer. Slowly, he turned the brass handle all the way round, and pushed the door a fraction open. As he peeked through the gap in the hole, he breathed a small sigh of relief, as far as he could see, it was empty. He pushed the door open a fraction and looked at his surroundings. He was overwhelmed by the state the room was in. On one side of the room, it was clean and not a thing was out of place, even the beds were made. On the other side, was what his mum would call a pig sty. It was covered with random items of clothing carelessly tossed onto the floor, the bed sheets had practically been ripped of the bed and some of the curtains were either torn or hanging from its hinges. But somehow, as the people who slept in this room had fought over it, the clothes had stopped at halfway and had formed a distinct line. Albus quickly closed the door and pulled out the coin Rose had handed him. He tapped his wand on it, and whispered the number 5008. Instantly, it changed as he instructed it to.

"Finally!" Indigo said as she barged into the room.

"Sorry guys, I was just admiring this room's artwork." He said with a smirk on his face.

"Wow. Looks like two different types of personality's were put into this room." Rose said.

"It looks like a war happened in here, between Messy and Tidy." Indigo laughed.

"Okay, let's start looking now guys." Nathan said. "We need to be out of here before the people who sleep in this room get back.

They looked for hatches on the floor, which was rather hard on the messy side... They listened for noises against the walls, and looked for hidden latches on it too. Albus had just spotted a ripped part of the wallpaper on the messy side of the room. As he got closer, he peeled it back just a bit to see if there was anything behind it.

"Hey, guys come here, I think I found something!" He shouted.

The others all ran towards him.

"What?" "Where?" They shouted as they assembled around him.

Albus ripped the wallpaper further, so that they could get a good look at it.

"Albus!" Rose protested.

"It's ok Rose, we can fix it after. We're wizards, remember."

"I guess." She said.

When more of the wall was exposed, they began to recognise a frame of a small door. They would easily be able to fit into the hole once they had opened it, but they would still have to crouch down.

Indigo tapped her wand in the middle of the hatch and said clearly "Alohomora." The door swung open instantly. She crawled in first, followed by Albus, Nathan, and then Rose at the end. The hatch that they had crawled in, had opened a tunnel entrance, they couldn't see the end, but the fact that they could see anything meant the exit mustn't be too far. And sure enough, a dim, yellow light was visible at the end of the tunnel. Indigo clambered out of the tunnel and stood back for Albus and the others to get out too. The room they had entered blew her away.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello again guys, thanks again for reading this far, I hope you have enjoyed it. Plz rate and review, I would greatly appreciate it! And if you have any ideas or requests for the next chapter please tell me! Thx. Enjoy!**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

The room was exquisite. There was a small wooden coffee table, which sat next to a vintage chair. On the wall to their right, was a bookcase which filled the whole wall. The wallpaper was very old and was a dull green colour, with flowers featuring in it. To their left, was a big desk, and a small, wooden chair. The four of them split up, and searched the room for something that they could link to Indigo's family. Indigo checked the bookcase with Rose, while Nathan and Albus checked the drawers in the desk.

"The books here are really old." Indigo observed from the front cover of a random book. "This one's dated back to 1650!"

"Why are these books so old? You said Juno was only a couple of years older than us." Nathan asked.

"Yeah, he is." Indigo said.

"Then why did this quest lead to a room filled of books that are so old?" Rose asked.

"Oh. This quest was passed down through the male side of the family, I guess nobody got what it meant." She answered.

"Umm, Indigo, I thought Juno's dad wrote this for him?" Albus asked confusedly.

"Oh, no! From what my mum said, there was this poem my Great-great-great-great-great-Uncle wrote. Which would be Juno's Great-great-great-great-great-Grandpa. And apparently, he wrote it just as he died, and and he left a note on the poem to pass it on to his son. Ever since then, when whoever had the poem last dies, they pass it down to the next son." She explained.

"So, because Juno didn't have a son, because he died so young, he passed it on to you?" Rose confirmed.

"Yep."

They searched for a while, and when Nathan and Albus had finished with the desk, they came to Indigo and Rose at the bookshelf to help.

"There's nothing here." Albus said glumly.

"There has to be! The poem led us here, it can't just stop." Indigo said. "Wait what's this?"

Indigo just spotted a book called 'The secrets of Scotland.' She pulled the book out, but it seemed glued to the shelf. The sound of something opening echoed through the room. Indigo turned around just in time to see the coffee table disappearing.

"Look!" She yelled triumphantly.

They all spun around, and watched as a similar coffee table reappeared, but this one had drawers and around the edges of the coffee table was their family crest.

"Check the drawers." Rose said.

They all circled around the coffee table and started frantically pulling out drawers.

"Empty." Nathan said.

"Mine's empty too." Albus said.

"Empty." Rose said.

They had checked almost every drawer.

"Empt–" Indigo started. "Wait, what is that?"

Albus, Rose and Nathan circled around Indigo as she pulled out another piece of parchment. It had the same handwriting, and was written in the same format. It was another poem.

"We should get out of here." Indigo said as she scanned over the message and confirmed that they would not need this room again.

They crawled out of the tunnel, and once everybody was out, Indigo pointed her wand at the torn wallpaper and said "Reparo." The wallpaper instantly repaired and sealed itself. They threw the invisibility cloak over them, so that nobody would see them leaving, and exited the room. They stayed under it until they were safely in the deserted room of number 05.

"So what does it say Indigo?" Albus asked as he tucked his father's cloak back into his pocket.

"It says, Dear Quester, Follow your instincts, and maybe think back to your family history, and just follow the SS tunnel?" She asked puzzled. "What's that?"

"Tunnel... Tunnel... My dad talked about many tunnels that they found at Hogwarts." Albus said.

"My Mum and Dad did too. Maybe that's what he means by 'think back to your family history." Rose said.

"Maybe." Albus said. "But I don't remember my dad ever talking about a tunnel called SS."

"It might be an abbreviation." Indigo suggested. "Was there any tunnel that had two s's in it?"

"Hmmm..." Albus thought.

"Wasn't there was one that lead to a house..?" Rose asked.

"Yeah! And the house was called the... the... screaming..." Albus tried.

"Screaming Shack!" Rose said.

"Don't you mean the Shrieking Shack?" Indigo asked.

"Yeah that's it!" Albus confirmed.

"Is there a tunnel that leads there?" Indigo asked.

"Yeah. Dad said it started underneath the Whomping Willow." Rose said.

"That tree will hit us if we get near it!" Nathan said.

"Dad mentioned a knot on the tree. Apparently it freezes the tree for long enough to slide down a hole." Albus said.

"Okay then. Everybody meet in the common room at 11:30 tonight. Don't forget the cloak, Albus." Rose said.

* * *

At 11:30, the four of them met in the common room.

"Ready?" Albus asked.

They nodded, and then they bunched together and Albus threw his invisibility cloak over them. After Albus was satisfied that they were all completely covered, they set off for the Whomping Willow. It was not long, however, until they ran into Professor McGonagall and Professor Frost talking.

"I'm not surprised." McGonagall was saying. "But nevertheless, you should have come and told me earlier."

"I'm sorry Minerva, I was just astonished as to why any student would want to go to the Forbidden Forest at midnight."

Albus and Indigo looked at each other, Albus had a hunch about what they were talking about.

"As do I." Minerva McGonagall said.

"Do you have any idea who they were?"

"The slightest, but I wish to keep it to myself."

"If you insist."

Their Transfiguration teacher, Professor Frost, then turned and started heading in their direction. The four of them had a split second to move out of the way. They were lucky that Professor McGonagall was looking the other way at the time, because Albus was sure that their feet were visible for a few dangerous seconds.

They side stepped past McGonagall, and kept heading for the gate of Hogwarts. Once they were out on the grounds, they headed for the Whomping Willow.

"Where's the knot?" Nathan asked when they got to the tree.

"Up there." Albus spotted.

"How do we reach it?"

"Grab a stick."

They looked around for one. "There!" Rose whispered.

She picked it up and reached up as far as she could, and pressed on the knot with the stick she had found. The Willow tree stopped and froze instantly.

"Quick! This way!" Albus exclaimed.

He slid down a hole, and waited for the others to follow. Once they were all safely down, Albus started walking through the tunnel. It took about 15 minutes to reach the end. The tunnel emerged in front of the Shrieking Shack. They hesitated before going in.

The Shrieking Shack was messy. It had papers lying around everywhere, the walls bore many large scrapes, the house looked burnt, and things had just been tossed randomly onto the floor.

"Where do we look?" Nathan asked.

"There's so much stuff everywhere, and there's still upstairs to look at too." Rose said.

"We're just looking for a note on a piece of parchment right?" Albus asked.

"Yeah..."

"Then why don't we just do this? Accio parchment." He said smartly.

But as soon as Albus said it, he regretted it. All the parchment on the floor just came flying at them, even heaps from upstairs rushed at them.

"Aaah!" Indigo screamed.

"Take cover!" Rose shouted.

They crouched down and shielded their faces with their arms. Albus could feel paper pushing against him, giving him a bunch of paper cuts.

Once all the parchments had stop flying at them, Rose said sarcastically, "Great idea, Albus, just go sending all the paper in this whole shack at us, why don't you?"

"Shush Rose, this could work. Albus just had to be more clear."

"See." He said to Rose.

"Accio Scotland Parchment." Indigo said with her wand pointing at the pile of paper.

Instantly, a piece of parchment rose out of the pile and came toward her.

"It's a clue." She announced as she read it.

"What's it say?" Nathan asked.

"It's just says B L C." She said cluelessly. "What could that mean?"

"Big large crate?"

"Big lollie crate?"

"Big left crate?"

"Bottom left crate?"

"Bottom left corner!"

They practically ran to the instructed corner. When they did, they found a locked hatch on the ground.

"Alohomora." Rose said.

As the hatch opened, the saw a ladder, which lead down. Albus climbed down first, then Indigo, followed by Nathan, and lastly, Rose. When Albus finally got to the end of the ladder, everything was pitch black. "Lumos." He whispered. His wand only lit a small circle around him. But as the others appeared, and lit their wands too, the place they were in became more light.

"It looks like we're in a cave." Rose observed.

"I hate caves. They creep me out." Nathan said.

"We have no choice but to follow it." Indigo pointed out.

"Fine." Nathan said.

They followed the cave slowly, moving their wands around to see their surroundings. After several silent minutes, the cave came to an end. Rose moved her wand in front of her, so that the light shone over the back wall. Huge words covered the wall. Rose put her free hand on one of the letters.

"They're carved." She announced.

Indigo, Nathan and Albus shone their wands on the words too, so that the whole back wall was visible.

"Follow your requirements to the room, and there you will find your family's dream room." They read out together.

"Okay, now that we know what it says, can we get out of here?" Nathan asked. "This place is getting on my nerves."

"Yeah, let's go."

* * *

Once they reached the Gryffindor common room, they all went straight to bed. They had agreed to discuss the meaning of the message in the morning, when they would be able to think properly.


End file.
